Why does day drinking feel different?

A poolside margarita, an ice-cold beer on a Memorial Day barbecue—summer, you might say, is made for a cold drink on a hot day.

But why does a daytime buzz feel different than an after-dinner drink? And is there a way to ward off the evening hangover?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there have been no robust clinical studies to evaluate the health effects of daily drinking. But psychiatrists and alcohol experts said there are a few unique factors that influence how daytime drinking can differ from nighttime drinking.

It’s open-ended.

At night, you may be more attuned to the signs that it’s time to call it quits, such as after your dinner is over. But the novelty of an afternoon alcoholic drink means people don’t always keep an eye on how much they’re consuming, said Dr. Akhil Anand, a psychiatrist at the Cleveland Clinic.

Also, if you drink throughout the day and don’t necessarily keep track of where to get your next snack, it also makes sense that you don’t have food in your stomach to slow down the rate at which your body absorbs alcohol – which means you’re more likely to get intoxicated in a shorter period.

It’s hot.

Drinking while the sun is shining — especially in the summer — makes you more likely to get dehydrated, and dehydration can amplify the effects of drunkenness: You can feel fatigued, light-headed, dizzy or just completely out, he said. Dr. Sarah Andrews, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine. On a sweaty day, you can lose more fluids than you can replenish, which means you’re also losing sodium and minerals that help your body function normally. And that’s on top of the dehydrating nature of alcohol itself, which acts as a diuretic, pushing fluid out of your system by making you urinate more often.

The hangover may arrive earlier.

The sooner the drinking starts, the sooner that dry mouth, headache, hangover feeling sets in. A mimosa brunch can translate to a hangover at dinner time, said Dr. Danesh Alam, an addiction psychiatrist at Northwestern Medicine, though a hangover is more likely to set in early the next morning — when your blood alcohol level has dropped back to zero. Because daytime drinking can be so dehydrating, hangover symptoms are likely to be worse, said Dr. Anand. The best ways to avoid a hangover are to drink at least one glass of water per alcoholic drink, eat enough, avoid sugary drinks, and of course, limit the amount of alcohol you drink in general — no matter what time you start.

“Hang-xiety” can hit harder.

Dehydration also accentuates the physiological effects that can accompany a hangover: hand tremors, nausea, dizziness. Sometimes physical signs of anxiety caused by drinking can trigger actual feelings of anxiety and nervousness, known as “hang-xiety.” In the hours or days after daily drinking, when you’re more likely to become extra dehydrated, the anxiety can be particularly pronounced, said Thea Gallagher, a clinical psychologist at NYU Langone Health.

But will you sleep well later? That’s anyone’s guess.

A few glasses of wine before bed is a recipe for a bad night’s sleep because of how alcohol compromises your REM sleep and makes you trudge to the bathroom. Daytime drinking can also wreak havoc on your sleep-wake cycle, Dr. Alam said. You may sink into a nap, which can make it more difficult to fall asleep later on. Or you could get through the day and then suffer the typical nighttime consequences of drinking: waking up at one or two in the morning. But if you have the foresight to give yourself a three- or four-hour buffer period between your last drink and when you go to sleep — and especially if you drink water and eat in between — your body can get a chance to metabolize the alcohol. before going to sleep so that you can get enough rest.